Interaction of Syntactic Primitives Workshop at the 35th Annual Conference of the German Linguistic Society (DGfS)

Recent research in syntax has shown which theoretical primitives are available in different frameworks to derive syntactic phenomena. Minimalism, for example, uses the two basic operations MERGE and AGREE that are restricted in various ways. Construction Grammar analyses these phenomena via abstract constructions stored in the lexicon. Frameworks like HPSG or LFG determine possible representations using representational constraints. Finally, Optimality Theory makes use of extrinsic orderings of Faithfulness and Markedness Constraints to determine the optimal syntactic structure. These findings enable us to explore possible interactions of theoretical primitives in the respective frameworks.

The goal of this workshop is to facilitate the discourse between proponents of different theories concerning the question which primitives (rules, constraints, constructions, operations and orderings) interact and how. Are there cases where the application of one operation facilitates or blocks the application of another (transparent interaction)? On the other hand, do we sometimes expect interactions of primitives but do not find them (opaque interaction)?

Transparent and opaque rule interactions have been well-known in phonology where they have been labelled 'Feeding', 'Bleeding', 'Counter-Feeding' and 'Counter-Bleeding' (Kiparsky 1973). These terms can be transferred to the interactions of theoretical primitives in syntax. The concepts have often been implicitly assumed in many syntactic analyses but have rarely been stated explicitly (exceptions being e.g. Rezac 2004, Pullum 1979). The phenomenon of 'wanna-contraction' in ECM-infinitives, for example, where the embedded subject is moved to the matrix clause, can be described as Counter-Feeding ('*Who do you wanna meet Mary?'). The contraction of 'want' and 'to' is blocked by the intervening 'who' in its base position. Moving the element could feed contraction but does not (Bresnan 1978, Arregi & Nevins 2012).

The workshop is intended for proponents of different frameworks who show how syntactic phenomena can be derived by invoking interactions of theoretical primitives. Some of the main questions will be: Are the interaction patterns/orderings extrinsic or intrinsic, universal or language specific, context sensitive or context free? What are the differences and similarities of the various frameworks?